Projects & Grants

Internal Grant Competition DGC
START-UP grant





Autonomic nervous system and cognitive stress
Project IdSGS07/LF/2023
Main solverMgr. Veronika Cibulcová
Period1/2023 - 12/2023
ProviderSpecifický VŠ výzkum
Statefinished
AnotationThe accelerating pace of life, the explosion of information and communication technologies, increasing demands on skills, etc. increase the cognitive load, which can lead to chronic stress. Chronic stress, which has increased dramatically in recent years, is one of the major problems of modern times. The link between chronic stress and dysregulation of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) has been well established (Vanderhasselt & Ottaviani, 2022). The presented project is focused on the hypothesis that cognitive stressors in the form of 5 selected cognitive tests can induce mental stress, which can lead to impaired cardiovascular reactivity due to insufficient flexibility of sympathetic and/or parasympathetic activity. This can be manifested, for example, by a long return of the heart rate to its baseline values and reduced heart rate variability (HRV). The aim of the project is to study the effect of a 14-day intervention to support the parasympathetic activity of the vagus nerve on ANS reactivity during cognitive stress. We will use data from the completed intervention study, supported by the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic. This study primarily studied the effect of transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS) on cognition and cognitive decline. However, within this study, less attention was paid to autonomic reactivity and more detailed analyzes of ANS functioning during cognitive stress, which is an issue that deserves closer investigation.